


How You Get The Girl

by hoffersvn



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), race to the edge - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoffersvn/pseuds/hoffersvn
Summary: An AU of Race to the Edge Season 2 Episode 1 "Team Astrid". Based off of the scene where Astrid gets up in the middle of the night to visit her old childhood house and Stoick finds her, except in this AU Hiccup finds her instead of Stoick. Also, the arena sleepover thing didn't happen in this AU :)
Relationships: Hiccup - Relationship, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Kudos: 19





	How You Get The Girl

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic. I might add a part 2 depending on if I get enough ideas for it! Sorry it's terrible lmaoo.

A loud crash woke him up in a panic as he frantically looked around the room to find the source of the noise. “Toothless, what are you doing half out the window?” The dragon turned back to him with an excited look on his face as he looked back and forth between outside the window and Hiccup, obviously wanting Hiccup to look outside. He rolled his eyes and slowly stood up from his chair, trying to stretch the cramps out of his leg. “I really gotta stop falling asleep at my desk,” he mumbled to himself as he walked over towards the window. He peered outside but saw nothing. “What am I supposed to be looking at here, bud?” he asked the dragon who was still looking overly excited. He looked around outside a bit more, and was about to go back to sleep when he saw a figure not far from where he was. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to make out who it was, when he finally recognized who it was, “Astrid!”

He landed quietly near her, trying not to startle her, but Toothless had other plans. He bounded over to Stormfly, causing Astrid to gasp and whip out her knives, though she almost immediately recognized him. “Toothless? What are you doing out here,” she then realized that wherever Toothless is, most likely Hiccup is there too. She turned around and saw him nervously standing there. “Hiccup? what are you doing?” 

“Well,- I uh- I- I mean I didn’t like- go looking for you or something uh- Toothless got all excited cause he saw Stormfly and ended up knocking a candle off the windowsill, which woke me up and brought me over to the window where I saw you and uh now here I am,” he smiled that awkward sideways smile he always did when he was nervous, which seemed to be frequent around Astrid. She loved it, but fought back a smile and said, “so you came out here to...?” 

“Oh I just uh I guess I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I mean I saw you standing in front of your destroyed childhood house and I just wanted to see if you needed a friend…” he trailed off. She stared at him for a few moments, and fearing he’d done something wrong, he started to say, “I mean I can go back, when I say it out loud it sounds stupid, you probably just want to be alone right now.” He started to motion for Toothless to come, but she grabbed his hands and stopped him. “It’s fine. You don’t have to go. A friend wouldn’t be so bad right now,” she let go of his hands and he brought them back down to his side. They both turned to face the house, and figuring she just wanted company, not a therapist, Hiccup kept quiet and just let her do what she needed to. 

“Why wasn’t I here?” Astrid mumbled after a few minutes. Hiccup turned to her. “What?” he asked softly. She looked up at him and spoke a little louder, “why wasn’t I here? I could’ve helped them. I could’ve prevented their home from getting completely destroyed,” she wrapped her arms around her stomach and turned away from him. 

“Astrid, you can’t possibly blame yourself for this. We were at the Edge! How could you have possibly known an attack was coming?”

“Exactly, Hiccup. I wasn’t here. I couldn’t have known there was going to be an attack. But maybe I could’ve, had I actually been here with them.” Hiccup started to speak but before he could get a word out she started again.

“I mean I know the dangers Berk faces. I know the enemies we have. I know that at any moment, we could be attacked. So why did I leave? I should’ve stayed here and helped protect Berk-”

“Astrid, Astrid, slow down, this is not your fault,” Hiccup said as he gently grabbed her hands to calm her down. “There is no way you could’ve prevented this. Whether you were here or not, no one saw this attack coming, which means you wouldn't have either. It wouldn’t have been any different if you were here.” He let go of her hands as she looked up at him. He couldn’t tell if she was angry at him or not, but he braced himself for a punch that never came. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. This was the last thing he’d expected to happen, but regardless, he knew she needed him. He hugged her back and held her head against his chest as she cried. He wasn’t that much taller than her, but he was tall enough that the top of her head fit right under his chin. He didn’t know what to say, or if he should even say anything at all, so he just held her and did his best to comfort her. They stayed like that for a while, until he heard Astrid whisper, “what if they’d died, Hiccup?” He pulled away and without thinking, put his hand on her cheek. She froze at the gesture, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“But they didn’t. I know it’s scary to think about what might have happened, but you can’t think about that. What matters now is they’re okay. Nothing happened to them. They weren’t home when the attack happened, and the worst thing that happened was your house getting destroyed.” They fell silent for a moment, and Astrid looked up at him, but didn’t say anything. Their eyes remained locked, and Astrid moved closer to him. They were nearly face to face, and Astrid leaned in a bit, clearly wanting Hiccup to meet her halfway. 

“I- uh- um- you- you know, Astrid,” Hiccup stuttered as he walked over to Toothless, “whenever I feel upset or- or something like that, I usually take a relaxing flight on Toothless. Would you maybe wanna…?” He gestured to the open spot behind him on the dragon. She wanted to be upset with him, but she told herself it wasn’t worth it, so she walked over to him and climbed onto the spot behind him.

“At least I’m not dangling from a tree this time,” she teased. He laughed, remembering that night he’d finally gained her trust, and motioned for Toothless to fly up. Once they were in the air, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. Hiccup knew it was probably just comfortable for her, and it didn’t mean anything, but it still made him smile like crazy. He had strong feelings for her, this he knew. But he promised himself he’d never let her know, for fear that it would ruin the friendship they’d built over the past 3 years. He told himself that no matter what way it was, romantic or platonic, as long as she were in his life, he was happy. He did, of course, think about what it would be like if they were together. Hell, he was thinking about it now. He thought about waking up next to her every morning, and being able to hold her close to him at night. He thought a lot more than he’d like to admit about kissing her. Sure, they’d kissed two times before, but the first was in a “thanks for risking your life to save the entirety of the village” type way and the second was at Thawfest, when he’d purposefully failed a competition so that Snotlout could win, so that was more of a “that was a nice thing you did out there today” type of kiss. He didn’t think either of them were romantic, at least not on her end. He thought of them as mere “thank you’s”. But that’s not how he wanted it. He wanted to be able to run his fingers through her hair, and kiss her goodnight, and in the mornings..

He snapped himself out of his thoughts, and told himself it wouldn’t be fair to put her in an awkward situation, and unless she made it clear she felt the same way for him, they had to stay platonic. He realized he hadn’t heard from her in a while, so he peered back at her. Her arms were still around his waist, but she’d moved her head so her cheek was resting on his shoulder, and her eyes were closed. She’d fallen asleep. He whispered her name a couple of times, just to confirm, and when she didn’t respond, he told Toothless to drop them by her Aunt’s house where she and her parents were staying while their house was repaired. However, no one was home. Multiple ships had been sent out to collect new resources to replace what was lost in the attack, and aboard those ships were Astrid’s parents and their siblings. He knew he wouldn’t be able to carry her all the way to her bed, and he didn’t want to wake her up, so he carefully led Toothless inside. He figured no one would mind, as long as they didn’t break anything. They made their way to the room she was staying in, and he carefully got off Toothless and carried her to the bed. He pulled some blankets over her and hesitated before placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. He began walking towards the door when he heard Astrid say, “um, Hiccup? Could you possibly stay? There’s no one here and I- kinda don’t want to be alone right now.” He turned towards her and nervously sputtered out, “I- yeah- are you- uh- are you sure?” He could barely see her but he knew she was looking at him with a serious expression, so he told Toothless to head to the arena and stay there for the night. Once Toothless was gone and Hiccup knew he’d made it safely, he lit a candle, detached his prosthetic, laid down next to her, and blew out the candle. His thoughts were racing, and he knew he wouldn’t sleep much, but he wanted to be here for Astrid, so he stayed. A few moments passed and Astrid spoke.

“I can’t close my eyes without imagining what would’ve happened if my parents would’ve been in the house,” she admitted. Hiccup turned to face her and said, “I know what that’s like. Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine what would’ve happened if Toothless hadn’t caught me during the Battle of the Green Death. It scares me. I imagine the people I would’ve hurt if I would’ve… you know…” they both knew what he was going to say, but neither of them said it, “look the point is,” he continued as he began to move her bangs to the side. He quickly froze and pulled his hand away, “Oh Gods uh- I’m so sorry I dont kno-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Everything happened so fast, and all he knew was that one moment her lips were on his and the next moment she was pulling away, babbling an apology, “Sorry, I don’t know what- I mean if you don’t feel the sam-” but it was his turn to cut her off. 

He leaned forward and kissed her. She hesitated for a moment before kissing him back. This was nothing like any of the kisses they’d previously shared. He was bolder this time, taking most of the control, which, to Astrid’s surprise, she didn’t mind. His lips were soft and he was gentle as he ran his fingers through her hair. She realized that this- he- was all she wanted. And it was all Hiccup ever wanted too. His mind was spinning with a million thoughts- but the only one he could pay attention to was the one saying he loved her. He loved her, and he loved this. The quick pauses to take a breath, and the reconnecting of their lips, which sent a fire throughout his body each time, the feeling of her hair in his hands, all of it. He didn’t want it to end, and neither did she. Neither knew how long they stayed like that, but eventually they pulled apart, the feeling of each other still on their lips. 

“Um lips okay wow that just…” she had no idea what to say.

“Did you just seriously just say ‘um lips’ to me?” he joked. She laughed and lightly punched him on the arm, “I just never expected you to initiate something like that, Haddock,” she teased back, though she meant it. Astrid had always been the one to initiate any intimate moments they shared, and she hadn’t expected Hiccup, the boy who got flustered whenever they made eye contact for more than 3 seconds, to do something that bold. Not that she was complaining though. Hiccup faked a smug smile and voice saying, “yeah I just did that.”

“Do I need to humble you Dragon Boy?” and with that, she pushed him off the bed. He landed with a thud but quickly got up in a play fighting stance. “So this is how it is huh?” he lunged at her on the bed, attempting to grab her around the waist to tickle her, but she quickly dodged. 

“You can’t win against me,” she said with a smirk

“Oh yeah, Hofferson? Let’s see,” he said as he went for her again, but to neither of their surprise, she was just that much quicker than him. She maneuvered by him so that she was behind him, grabbed his arm, and pinned it against his back, “what was that you were saying, ‘let’s see’?” 

“I’m not giving up yet, I’ve- I’ve got something coming you’ll never expect,” he said attempting to sound confident, but it really just came across as struggling. 

“Oh yeah? That’s okay, I can wait like this. Take your time,” she said in a sly tone. She knew she had him beat, but she didn’t mind letting him pretend he’d thought of something. After a few minutes, he caved in, “alright fine, fine I give up! You win,” he said, and Astrid dropped his arm, laughing hysterically.

“I almost had you,” he said, rubbing his arm and wincing dramatically. 

“I’m sure you did,” she said, her laughter slowly subsiding. They were both exhausted and laid back down on the bed, this time, Hiccup’s arm wrapped around Astrid, and Astrid’s head on his chest, feeling the slow rise and fall of his chest with each breath he took. This was the most comfortable she’d ever felt in her entire life, and she wanted to stay like this forever. 

“Astrid, I promise you none of this is your fault. You can’t blame yourself for what happened here while you were gone.” She didn’t say anything for a moment, and Hiccup figured she was asleep. 

“Thank you, Hiccup. For everything tonight. Taking me on Toothless, getting me back home, staying with me, everything. It really means a lot to me.” He smiled and held her tighter, gently brushing his hands through her hair. 

“Astrid I will always be here for you, no matter what. I know you think you have to deal with things alone, but you don’t. You have me, the dragon riders, your parents, so many people that care about you and wouldn’t hesitate to help you with something. You don’t have to go through everything alone.” He was right, but he also wasn’t. No one would be there for her the way he is. 

“The truth is, Hiccup- you’re the person I trust the most. I know that sounds crazy because it should be my parents, but they’re traditional vikings, they think the best way to handle emotions is with axes and sharp things. And I love the dragon riders, don’t get me wrong, but I probably wouldn’t trust them with too many things. Fishlegs is nice, but he’d probably just try and get me to meditate, the twins, well that’s pretty self explanatory,” Hiccup laughed and agreed with that one, “Snotlout is the last person I’d trust with anything, and Heather isn’t around enough for me to talk to her frequently. Hiccup, you’re the only one that let’s me deal with things the way I need to. You make me feel… safe. You always have. That night you took me on the first flight on Toothless, I remember me yelling at you ‘I am not listening to anything you have to say’, and instead of getting angry, you worked with me and said, ‘then I won’t speak, just let me show you.’ You never try and argue and you don't get upset, you just let me be myself,” she confessed. 

“Well I guess you didn’t really have a choice to trust me when you were stuck up in that tree,” he joked, “but I never knew I made you feel that way. I mean, I’m glad I do, I just never knew. And it doesn’t sound crazy, I don’t trust my dad with a whole lot, and obviously I don’t know my mom. And the dragon riders can be a bit much sometimes, that is true. I guess the same goes for me, you’re the person I trust the most too.” She gave a content smile and lifted her head up and kissed him gently. She placed her head back on his chest and closed her eyes, feeling happier than she ever had.

Once Hiccup thought she was asleep, he whispered, “I love you, Astrid Hofferson,” and closed his eyes, which were almost immediately reopened when he heard a quiet, “I love you too, Haddock.” He tried to stay awake, just for a little bit longer. He wanted to live in this moment forever. Astrid curled up against him, peacefully sleeping, her hair spilling down her back and across his chest, her head perfectly placed in the crook of his neck. But sooner than he cared for, sleep overtook him and they were both fast asleep, still holding onto each other as tightly as they could.


End file.
